Review & Contest: Eyes Like Stars (Theatre Illuminata, Part I) by Lisa Mantchev

Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata Part I
Lisa Mantchev
July 7, 2009
Feiwel & Friends

I was given the chance to read and review the ARC of this lovely story by the author herself, Lisa Mantchev. I’d been stalking Lisa ever since the first time my eyes meet the cover of this endearing book.

Originality: 20!
Characters: 20!
Writing: 20!
Setting: 10!
Plot: 20!
Passion: 9!
Grade: 99/100!

Beatrice Shakespeare Smith lives at Center Stage of the Theatre Illuminata. Her best friends are fairies! She crushes on a pirate, Nate, and an air elemental named Ariel. She butts heads with the Stage Manager and constantly feeds the fire between the Property Manager and the Scenery Manager. And within it all she’s an orphan with Cobalt blue hair. She controls the written word. If she writes it, it happens.

She is given the ultimate challenge. Sell out a show and receive a standing ovation or leave the Theatre forever. Is she able to get all the Managers and Players to work together to remake a play into something new? Will she survive an attack from a Sea Witch? And lastly, will she find out who her mother is?

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This book was just too much fun to read! Beatrice’s character seemed like an average teenage girl with a very supernatural setting that she lived in. The other characters of this book were from the works of Shakespeare’s plays. I found that I knew just about all of the characters, so I didn’t have any issues understanding what was going on. However, I wonder if other people reading this book find themselves confused because they don’t know what play the character originates from. That would be the only negative thing I could find about this book.

The story was very original and complicated but it meshed well together. The setting and the plot were just outstanding. The creativity needed to write this book is unbelievable. Lisa did an amazing job putting it all together. And one of my favorite things about the written book is the typeface changes when Beatrice was writing the play lines. Amazingly well done.

I gave the Passion rating a 9/10, because I honestly felt the passion between Beatrice and both male leads, Ariel and Nate, more so with Nate. However, since Beatrice is only a teenager I feel the passion was definitely there and it was very tangible; therefore, my resulting rating of a 9/10.

Ultimately, this has got to be one of the funniest, creative books I have read in a very long time.

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